Good Monday Morning!
The kids and I have done our morning chores and they are now doing schoolwork. We have a daily routine for Monday - Thursday. We let the kids stay up pretty late here as their friends are getting out of school around 11pm our time. This gives them a chance to IM friends and keep in touch. Heaven forbid we email as it's such a slow means of communication! (smile) I get up between 730 and 830 and wake up the kids about 10 or 1030. This gives me a chance to get ready for the day, have my devotions and enjoy some much loved peace and quiet! After getting up the kids eat breakfast (really brunch) do their house chores and start school at noon. DJ is home by noon on Fridays so we get extended weekends with him :)
This weekend was a lazy one as it was very windy and we continue to be carless (it's in the shop). I did finally meet Michelle though and we spent some time Saturday night with her and her husband Jay. We enjoyed our time with them and realized it is indeed a small world. They lived in Las Vegas before coming here 2 yrs. ago. They attended the same church, Central Christian Church, that we did when we lived in Vegas! Michelle also knows about our church Alpine Community Church, in Utah. Her friend was married at our Riverdale campus! It was so neat to be sitting in little Marsala, Sicily and connecting with someone that way:) We both agreed it wasn't coincidental but rather God is very good.
The sea was so beautiful the last 2 days. The water was rough, wild and wonderful. I grew up in Oregon about 45 minutes or so from the coast and I miss it! So being able to live on the Mediterranean Sea for a few months is a treat!! I did get some pictures though they're not as clear as I'd hoped. I'm still learning about my camera.
In the midst of rainy days and wind tossed waves my small but cherished collection of pansies, daffodils and crocus are blooming :) It makes my heart smile. What a wonderful reminder that even in the storms of life there is ALWAYS something beautiful. I firmly believe that no matter what we go through God is always right there holding our hand and there is always something to be thankful for. Today I'm so thankful for my little flowers. What are you thankful for?
Monday, January 26, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Bundles of Joy That Need Your Prayers
Good Morning :) Blogland can be such an inspiring community. There are two, sweet babies, Harper and Brayden that were born last week and both are in NICU. They are doing better but still need prayers going up on their behalf. I moved their moms blog buttons up to the top of my blog. If you want to read their stories you can click on those buttons.
The sea is beautiful today. It's the roughest I've seen it since we've been here. All the seaweed (or whatever that stuff is.....I'll find out) that is piled up along the water gets rearranged as the waves crash against it. This morning big sprays of black water spewed everywhere as the waves crashed in. It doesn't smell so great tho as the seaweed gets loosened up from it's piles. DJ and I walked down to the water and I took some great pictures. I had it on continuous shot mode and was excited to share the shots with you. I wasn't happy to realize that I didn't have my memory card in :( Another day! Have a wonderful weekend :)
The sea is beautiful today. It's the roughest I've seen it since we've been here. All the seaweed (or whatever that stuff is.....I'll find out) that is piled up along the water gets rearranged as the waves crash against it. This morning big sprays of black water spewed everywhere as the waves crashed in. It doesn't smell so great tho as the seaweed gets loosened up from it's piles. DJ and I walked down to the water and I took some great pictures. I had it on continuous shot mode and was excited to share the shots with you. I wasn't happy to realize that I didn't have my memory card in :( Another day! Have a wonderful weekend :)
Friday, January 23, 2009
A New Look :) Change Can Be Good.
Change is inevitable isn't it? I liked the polka dots I had before but wasn't crazy about the fake looking daisys (tho I love daisys!) and after adding my flickr photostream it just all seemed to busy. So I found this beautiful but simplified background at simplychicblogs.blogspot.com
Change can often be a good thing and I find my attitude and perspective about life here in Sicily evolving almost daily. That's a good thing :) My prayer has been that God would show me/us His purpose for our time here. Spending unhurried time together as a family is priceless yet we also want to be open to any plans He has beyond that.
The more we get out the more comfortable we feel. Outright, Sicilians don't throw themselves at you with hospitality. The more I've read and talked with people the more I realize they are a warm and hospitable people under a certain level of suspicion they have for newcomers. It's time to embrace the culture more and put myself out there so to speak.
There is a group of wives here whose husbands mostly work with DJ. I've met Sue and have been emailing 2 others, Michelle and Angelique. They are all very friendly and helpful. I've talked to Michelle a couple times this week on the phone and have enjoyed hearing someone else's perspective on life here in Sicily. She just started a culinary blog about cooking here in Sicily. If you're interested in cooking or history check out her blog marsalamia.wordpress.com
Ben and DJ picked oranges (2 big bags) out of the tree this morning. One of the guys DJ works with has orange trees at his house.
The sun is out (SMILE!...that's a good thing as it's been yucky the last couple days) and DJ's home for the weekend so I think we should take a walk along the mediterranean. Wish you were here to join us!
Change can often be a good thing and I find my attitude and perspective about life here in Sicily evolving almost daily. That's a good thing :) My prayer has been that God would show me/us His purpose for our time here. Spending unhurried time together as a family is priceless yet we also want to be open to any plans He has beyond that.
The more we get out the more comfortable we feel. Outright, Sicilians don't throw themselves at you with hospitality. The more I've read and talked with people the more I realize they are a warm and hospitable people under a certain level of suspicion they have for newcomers. It's time to embrace the culture more and put myself out there so to speak.
There is a group of wives here whose husbands mostly work with DJ. I've met Sue and have been emailing 2 others, Michelle and Angelique. They are all very friendly and helpful. I've talked to Michelle a couple times this week on the phone and have enjoyed hearing someone else's perspective on life here in Sicily. She just started a culinary blog about cooking here in Sicily. If you're interested in cooking or history check out her blog marsalamia.wordpress.com
Ben and DJ picked oranges (2 big bags) out of the tree this morning. One of the guys DJ works with has orange trees at his house.
The sun is out (SMILE!...that's a good thing as it's been yucky the last couple days) and DJ's home for the weekend so I think we should take a walk along the mediterranean. Wish you were here to join us!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Getting settled in.......... .
Some of you might be wondering if we fell off the planet........no we haven't. We're pretty much settled into our apartment. Getting settled into the culture and community is a bit more challenging. The biggest thing I need to learn right now is the numbers. Thank goodness for cash registers that show the sales total. Even when you do learn the numbers Italians speak very fast! We're getting a system down of how often to go to the market. Most stores are closed on Sunday and all the markets are closed til 4pm on Mon. So basically Friday or Saturday we need to make sure we're stocked up til Tuesday.
Doing laundry for 5 people is quite a chore but I don't mind that. With a small washer (holds 3 big towels....my new washer at home holds 10) and no dryer it's a steady job and when you have rain for several days in a row you are left to dry clothes inside on racks. We don't have a thermostat in our apartment so we don't leave the heat on. When it starts feeling chilly we turn the heat on for an hour to take the chill out of the air then turn it off as it's very expensive to run.
The kids are doing well. Homesick but dealing with it in a good way overall. I feel homesick at times too and know already that we will appreciate our life in America all the more when we go home. This is a good experience tho and we will see and do alot of neat things while we are here.
We've become friends with a couple, Dave and Sue. He works with DJ. They are older than us and don't have kids. They've been wonderful in showing us around and helping us become familiar with how things work around here. Friday they took me to a couple stores. A florist, a pottery store and a home decorating store. You can get beautiful cut flowers here inexpensively. They also took me to the cemetary. Wow, what an experience. You're not supposed to take pictures. I wish I could show each of you what it was like. Absolutely incredible. Because we are at sea level they can't bury people underground so everything is built up. The cemetary is like walking through a town. They have tombs stacked 7 or 8 high. It's very beautiful.
Anyway, we are doing good and hope you are too:)
Doing laundry for 5 people is quite a chore but I don't mind that. With a small washer (holds 3 big towels....my new washer at home holds 10) and no dryer it's a steady job and when you have rain for several days in a row you are left to dry clothes inside on racks. We don't have a thermostat in our apartment so we don't leave the heat on. When it starts feeling chilly we turn the heat on for an hour to take the chill out of the air then turn it off as it's very expensive to run.
The kids are doing well. Homesick but dealing with it in a good way overall. I feel homesick at times too and know already that we will appreciate our life in America all the more when we go home. This is a good experience tho and we will see and do alot of neat things while we are here.
We've become friends with a couple, Dave and Sue. He works with DJ. They are older than us and don't have kids. They've been wonderful in showing us around and helping us become familiar with how things work around here. Friday they took me to a couple stores. A florist, a pottery store and a home decorating store. You can get beautiful cut flowers here inexpensively. They also took me to the cemetary. Wow, what an experience. You're not supposed to take pictures. I wish I could show each of you what it was like. Absolutely incredible. Because we are at sea level they can't bury people underground so everything is built up. The cemetary is like walking through a town. They have tombs stacked 7 or 8 high. It's very beautiful.
Anyway, we are doing good and hope you are too:)
Monday, January 5, 2009
Life in Sicily
Hello everyone.......where to begin? Our flight was rather uneventful( tho I'll just say I don't like landing! Take off isn't bad.) It went rather quickly and the kids did great. It was Ben's first time flying and he loved it. We were able to sit together at least in 2's all the way. We had a 9 hr. layover in Rome so we surprised the kids and DJ flew into Rome before our flight got in. We walked around a corner and he was standing there waiting. The kids were very happy of course! (Me too!!!) We were so tired by then that we just hung out at the airport for the day instead of trying to go see anything. Our flight was an hour and a half late. In Philadelphia we were delayed as they couldn't get one of the access doors shut. They finally just took it off and said we didn't need it. (?) We got to the apartment about 7:30pm Thurs. night. One of the first things I noticed was that everyone seems to wear alot of black or dark brown. In the states even in the winter you see all sorts of colors. 95% of the women seem to be wearing high heeled boots with their pants tucked in. Something tells me we may stick out a bit when we go out! :) I'm also starting to think they wean from bottles to cigarettes! Most people seem to smoke. Everywhere. There are piles of cigarettes on the sidewalks. People just drop them when they're done with them. There are many fascinating things here tho Mr. Clean wouldn't be passing out any blue ribbons. Litter is very commonplace. Northern Italy and southern Italy are two very different places. People that have worked in the northern and southern parts say that northen Italy is much friendlier. DJ calls Sicily the M & M society. Me & Me.
Let me just say that the fresh produce is amazing. Cherry tomatoes are YUMMO.
The mediterranean is beautiful and I love living so close to the water. It's a block away:) We've gone out walking around town everyday. We are a couple blocks away from the market area. It's very old and beautiful. Just like you see in the movies. Narrow, stone roads with apartments above all the shops. Beautiful architecture. Wonderful, old wooden doors and wrought iron.
At this time I can't share pictures from my camara (in the process of getting it setup with laptop) but will share some pics from the girls camaras.
Hope you are well and enjoying the new year so far. As time goes on if there is something you're curious about or want to see a pic of something specific let me know :)
Love to you all!
Let me just say that the fresh produce is amazing. Cherry tomatoes are YUMMO.
The mediterranean is beautiful and I love living so close to the water. It's a block away:) We've gone out walking around town everyday. We are a couple blocks away from the market area. It's very old and beautiful. Just like you see in the movies. Narrow, stone roads with apartments above all the shops. Beautiful architecture. Wonderful, old wooden doors and wrought iron.
At this time I can't share pictures from my camara (in the process of getting it setup with laptop) but will share some pics from the girls camaras.
Hope you are well and enjoying the new year so far. As time goes on if there is something you're curious about or want to see a pic of something specific let me know :)
Love to you all!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
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